Tag Archives: memory

Once upon a time, I sold everything I owned and moved to Brazil. This piece, over at Avidly at the LA Review of Books is mostly about that, and also, about soccer: No one in Rio understood why I had come. I … Continue reading →

I started out high school wearing, most days, a black denim jacket embroidered with a white mask and the words “The Phantom of the Opera.” Yeah. This fact still makes me blush. I was aware that my love of musicals … Continue reading →

We were in Texas. The taxi from the Waco airport pulled up into a summer night full of crickets—crickets hopping slowly outside baggage claim, crickets in the bushes, crickets in the air. The drive to our hotel felt like a … Continue reading →

When I found out I was having a girl, I cried for three days. It took me a while to figure out some basic facts about this reaction, including the fact that not everyone has it. In the language of … Continue reading →

When I was just out of college and working as a staff writer at a weekly paper, the whole company had to report early one day for a corporate bonding exercise. A facilitator, let’s call her Judy, sat us down … Continue reading →

Here is our trip to Brazil: We rent out a whole pousada in Buzios, near the beach. At night we walk up and down the one cobblestoned street, to see and be seen. We wear tube tops and big necklaces … Continue reading →

Track 1) The brain is grooved. It is like the needle won’t lift and go to the next track. Track 2) Will H. even recognize record players? I remember the smell of my father’s LPs in the credenza in the … Continue reading →

Last night, I took care of our friend’s child. It was like a vacation. He went to bed so fast it was like black magic. I kind of hate our friends now. No, not really. Just a little. I grew … Continue reading →

Shirley Jackson. She was my debate teacher. Debate, for some reason, was part of the regular curriculum in 7th grade. After class, a group of us sat in a circle on worn-down student desks that were all a slightly different … Continue reading →

E. wants a summer anthem, and I have a couple of options, but what kind of summer do we want? What kind of summer would each song summon? The summer I worked with E., I lived in North Adams, just … Continue reading →